EU tariffs on Chinese PV products could slow Energiewende’s progress

The EU Commission’s decision to extend the tariffs on Chinese PV products has raised concerns among environmental organisations that a slower expansion of solar power production might hinder the German energy transition’s (Energiewende) progress, writes Daniel Wetzel in Die Welt. More than 400 European solar power companies and major environmental organisations like the WWF and Greenpeace have advocated for an exemption of the PV products from customs, Wetzel explains. With this decision, the EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, “once again sides with German market leader Solarworld”, which has called for a Europe-wide alliance against Chinese competitors, he writes. But according to Udo Möhrstedt, CEO of IBC Solar AG, the tariffs that “cost tens of thousands of jobs” and “reduced the number of module producers” are in fact “bad for Germany’s solar industry”.

Read the article in German here.